Delhi Crime

Delhi Crime is an Indian crime drama web television series written and directed by Richie Mehta.[1][2] Starring Shefali Shah, Rasika Dugal, Adil Hussain and Rajesh Tailang, the series is set in the aftermath of the 2012 Delhi gang rape.[3] Its first two episodes were premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in the Indie Episodic category.[4] The series was released on Netflix on 22 March 2019.[5] The show was renewed for a second season with the main cast returning.[6]

Delhi Crime
Genre
Created byRichie Mehta
Developed byLaurence Bowen
Toby Bruce
Written byRichie Mehta
Directed byRichie Mehta
Starring
Composer(s)Andrew Lockington
Country of originIndia
Original language(s)Hindi
English
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes7 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • Aaron Kaplan
  • Jeff Sagansky
  • Florence Sloan
  • Apoorva Bakshi
  • Pooja Kohli
  • Sanjay
  • Gaurav Nanda
  • Bachani
  • John Penotti
  • Kilian Kerwin
  • David A. Stern
  • Michael Hogan
Production location(s)India
CinematographyJohan Heurlin Aidt
Editor(s)Beverly Mills
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time45-64 min
Production company(s)Ivanhoe Pictures
Golden Karavan
Poor Man's Productions
DistributorNetflix
Release
Original networkNetflix
Picture format1080p (HDTV)
Audio formatDolby Digital
Original release22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)

Synopsis

Delhi Crime[7][8] is based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape case that took place in the neighbourhood of Munirka, in South Delhi. The series follows the story in the aftermath of the gang rape, where Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Vartika Chaturvedi is tasked to find the culprits responsible for the assaults and death of the female victim.

Cast
  • Shefali Shah as Vartika Chaturvedi
  • Rasika Dugal as Neeti Singh
  • Aakash Dahiya as Devinder
  • Adil Hussain as Kumar Vijay
  • Rajesh Tailang as Bhupendra Singh
  • Denzil Smith as Vishal Chaturvedi
  • Yashaswini Dayama as Chandni
  • Avijit Dutt as Gururaj Dixit
  • Gopal Dutt as Sudhir Kumar
  • Sanjay Bishnoi as Akash
  • Mridul Sharma as Jai Singh
  • Jaya Bhattacharya as Vimla Bharadwaj
  • Swati Bhatia as Ira
  • Anurag Arora as Jairaj
  • Vinod Sharawat as SHO Vinod Tiwari
  • Ayush Sehgal as Arunesh
  • Rhea Bedi as Smriti
  • Abhilasha Singh as Deepika
  • Gaurav Rana as SHO Rakesh Verma
  • Govind Singh as Amar Singh
  • Vipin katyal as Arif
  • Ashok Mehta as Lead Protester

Production

Mehta conceived the idea of Delhi Crime during a conversation with Neeraj Kumar, the former Commissioner of the Delhi Police, who introduced him to the investigating team and provided access to several legal documents that were prepared as part of the investigation.[9] Later on, Kumar asked Mehta if he would consider making a film on the case to which he denied. He then started reading the documents and was "amazed at the precision with which this case was solved, and so quickly." He also met the officers involved in the case and was "blown away by them."[10] Mehta sought permission from the victim's family.[10] Mehta said that films like The French Connection (1971) and Zodiac (2007) influenced his approach.[10]

He modeled several portrayals of the cops based on his own observations.[10] Mehta said that the making of the series was a "personally transformative journey" for him.[9] He spoke to several police personnel involved in the case and tried "retracing the paths that the police took during the course of the investigation."[9] It took Mehta six years to finish his research. The series was shot in Delhi over the course of 62 days.[9] Mehta initially wanted to make it as a feature film, but as he continued the research, he realised that he could not fit the content in that length.[11] The character of Vartika was based on Chhaya Sharma, the former deputy commissioner of police in Delhi.[11]

Mehta met Sharma, who was in the team who caught the perpetrators. They spoke for months as Mehta wanted her point of view in the crime.[12] Shah also met Sharma for the preparation of the role.[13] The series spans six days, covering the period between 16 December and 21 December, from the incident to the final arrest.[12] The film went on the floor in January 2018 after taking permission from the Delhi police and the victim's family.[12] Mehta decided not to show the rape on screen as he wanted "not to cross that line into exploitation."[12] Tailang's character was an amalgamation of different investigating officers, but he spoke to one police officer and used him as reference point.[13]

Episodes
No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date [14]
1"Episode 1"Richie MehtaRichie Mehta22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
2"Episode 2"Richie MehtaRichie Mehta22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
3"Episode 3"Richie MehtaRichie Mehta22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
4"Episode 4"Richie MehtaRichie Mehta22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
5"Episode 5"Richie MehtaRichie Mehta22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
6"Episode 6"Richie MehtaRichie Mehta22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
7"Episode 7"Richie MehtaRichie Mehta22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)

Reception

The first season received positive reviews upon its release. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 92% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 7.25/10.[15]

Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter called it "consistently different enough to be interesting." He also felt the police-procedural conventions felt "reasonably fresh and consistently engaging."[16] Ben Travers of IndieWire wrote: "An expertly told, hard-to-watch true crime series, Delhi Crime Story won't be for everyone — but it won't let go of anyone who watches."[17] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote: "Where Delhi Crime scores is in the portrayal of a beleaguered police force, which is easy to point fingers at."[18]

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV called the series "grim, gritty and grounded in the everyday." He further wrote: "Delhi Crime is a knockout punch of a series: unsettling and enthralling by turns."[19] Piyasree Dasgupta of HuffPost noted that the series "comes across as such an elaborate exercise to valorise the Delhi Police that it actually seems deeply insensitive." She also said that the "only people the show humanises are the police."[20] Rahul Desai of Film Companion wrote: "It’s the tiny infusions of well-informed opinion into what is essentially dramatic long-read reportage that make Delhi Crime one hell of a ride."[21] Rohan Naahar of Hindustan Times called it: " gut-wrenching, stylishly directed, passionately performed, and most important, not at all exploitative."[22] Avinash Ramachandran of The New Indian Express – Cinema Express in his review wrote: "Delhi Crime might be a glorification of the police force, but it is also a mirror to our society. It might absolve the Delhi police of its alleged dereliction of duties, but it is also a reminder that we vouched, and hoped, for a similar incident to never happen again."[23]

Along with the story telling and the premise of the series, the cast also received widespread appreciation for their performances in the series. Priyanka Roy of The Telegraph said: "And while the rest of it is worth a watch, Shefali Shah is reason number one why you shouldn’t give Delhi Crime a miss." Nandini Ramnath from Scroll wrote: " Rajesh Tailang, Anurag Arora, Adil Hussain, Jaya Bhattacharya, Gopal Dutt and Vinod Sharawat are among the numerous actors who display the same dedication to their craft as did their fictionalised selves to the investigation."[24] Namrata Joshi from The Hindu said: "Tailang’s control, poise and measured way plays out beautifully against Shah’s dynamism to give us arguably the best on-screen buddy-cop team seen yet in India."[25]

Future

Mehta said that Delhi Crime will be an anthology series and the next season will have same characters but with a different crime story. Shah will reprise her role as DCP Vartika as well along with other main characters.[1]

gollark: Not sure what 1 means.
gollark: The second one appears to be caused by less work (→ less income taxes, having to subsidize furlough stuff etc), and less economic activity generally (→ less tax), as well as having probably significant expenses on doing testing and tracing and all that.
gollark: I mean, stuff got more expensive for a bit, and I had to switch to pasta I liked less, but it mostly seemed to be fine.
gollark: Is it just me or did the predicted COVID-19 supply chain disruption not actually really happen?
gollark: It's a brain[REDACTED]-derive esolang.

References
  1. Sharma, Sampada (19 March 2019). "Delhi Crime Season 2 in the pipeline". The Indian Express. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  2. "'Delhi Crime' to premiere on Netflix in March". Mint. 29 January 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  3. Manghnani, Devika (14 February 2019). "10 Netflix India Original shows coming to your screens in 2019". Vogue India. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  4. Andreeva, Nellie (29 January 2019). "Netflix Picks Up Indian Drama Series 'Delhi Crime' From Richie Mehta, Golden Karavan & Ivanhoe Pictures". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  5. "Netflix announces new Indian series, based on 2012 Delhi gang rape case, starring Shefali Shah, Rasika Dugal". Hindustan Times. 29 January 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  6. Nolan, Emma (26 March 2019). "Delhi Crime season 2 Netflix release date: Will there be another series?". Express. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  7. Delhi Crime, retrieved 29 March 2019
  8. "7 yrs after Nirbhaya incident, 'Delhi Crime' director shares perils of filming the series". The Economic Times. 16 December 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  9. "Delhi Crime to premiere on Netflix in March". The Indian Express. 29 January 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  10. Deodhar, Neerja (20 March 2019). "Delhi Crime: Director Richie Mehta on his vision to create a project that gives viewers a sense of catharsis". Firstpost. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  11. Indie Episodic: Delhi Crime Story. YouTube (Motion picture). United States: Sundance Institute. 8 January 2019.
  12. Raman, Sruthi Ganapathy (26 January 2019). "Police efforts in 2012 gangrape get a hat tip in Richie Mehta's Sundance pick 'Delhi Crime Story'". Scroll.in. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  13. Rao, Soumya (18 March 2019). "'Going beyond pain and anger': Netflix series 'Delhi Crime' digs into the 2012 gangrape and murder". Scroll.in. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  14. "Delhi Crime – Episodes". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  15. "Delhi Crime: Season 1 (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  16. Fienberg, Daniel (5 February 2019). "'Delhi Crime Story': TV Review :Sundance 2019". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  17. Travers, Ben (30 January 2019). "'Delhi Crime Story' Review: One of India's Most Heinous Attacks Is Netflix's Next Addictive Thriller". IndieWire. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  18. Gupta, Shubhra (15 March 2019). "Delhi Crime review: Crime and Punishment". The Indian Express. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  19. Chatterjee, Saibal (18 March 2019). "Delhi Crime Review: Netflix Show Based On Nirbhaya Gangrape Is A Knockout Punch". NDTV. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  20. Dasgupta, Piyasree (19 March 2019). "Netflix's 'Delhi Crime' Is A Skewed Take On The Delhi Gangrape Case". HuffPost. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  21. Desai, Rahul (20 March 2019). "Delhi Crime Review: A Riveting Cocktail Of Unknown Triumph And Widely-Known Tragedy". Film Companion. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  22. "Delhi Crime review: Gut-wrenching, shocking; the best Indian Netflix show since Sacred Games". Hindustan Times. 22 March 2019.
  23. "Delhi Crime Review: A gritty retelling of the Nirbhaya incident that both humanises and glorifies the Delhi Police". The New Indian Express.
  24. Ramnath, Nandini. "'Delhi Crime' review: Tautly staged and superbly performed, but questions linger". Scroll.in.
  25. Joshi, Namrata (22 March 2019). "Netflix's 'Delhi Crime': Delving into the 2012 Delhi gang rape". The Hindu.
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